If you look up today, and if weather maps were visible in the sky, you would see a big blue and red line over right I-394.

A cold front sagged south to the Twin Cities overnight and will become stationary. It will linger overhead today, then push back north as a warm front later this evening. This front has a strong temperature contrast. Highs around the metro this afternoon will reflect that, with low 70’s in the north metro and mid 80’s south. All weather is local, and Apple Valley will feel a lot warmer than Anoka this afternoon.

As the front pushes north tonight, look for the winds to increase from the south. The season’s warmest air mass will push temperatures into the 90’s Wednesday in southern Minnesota. The Twin Cities may even make a first seasonal run at 90 by Wednesday afternoon. We see 13 days of 90 degrees on average in the metro each summer. Our first one usually occurs in late May to early June, so we’ll be pushing things a bit if we get there.

Tweaking the Memorial Day Weekend forecast:

Things are looking prety good for the upcoming holiday weekend and unofficial start of summer in Minnesota. It appears we will be mostly dry, with perhaps our best chance of rain Sunday morning. Here’s the latest. I will tweak this as the weekend approaches.

Friday: Mostly sunny. High 70 metro, 66 north. West wind 5-15 mph.

Saturday: Mostly sunny. High 70. West wind 5-15 mph.

Sunday: Chance of rain. High 72. Southwest wind 10-20 mph.

Memorial Day: Partly cloudy. High 71. Northest wind 5-10 mph.

It will be something short of beach weather this weekend, but all in all a pretty decent weekend is on the way.

About the blogger

Paul Huttner is chief meteorologist for Minnesota Public Radio. Huttner has worked TV and radio stations in Minneapolis, Tucson and Chicago. Paul is a graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul and holds a bachelor’s degree in geography with an emphasis in meteorology.